Door closer



Dec. 14, 1937. w, J, KEE E 2,102,322

DOOR CLOSER Filed Feb. 4, 1957 mum:

I/l/I/ Patented Dec. 14, 1937 PATENT OFFICE noon CLOSER William J.Keene, Chicago, Ill'., asslgnor to Ohicago Spring Hinge Company,Chicago, Ill., a

corporation: of Illinois Application February 4,

2 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for effecting the automatic closing ofhinged doors, suchv as the doors of cold storage rooms, refrigerators,and the like. I

In one well known type of automatic door closer there is verticallyjournaled on that member of the door frame on which the door is hinged ashaft, fast on which is a laterally extending horizontal arm thatoverlies the front side of the door, and a spring, usually of thetorsion type, is connected at one end to the shaft and, when put intension, tends to turn the latter in a direction to force the armagainst the front side of the latter so as to oppose the openingmovement of the door and, if the latter is open, push the door to closedposition. An improveddoor closer of this general type forms the subjectmatter of my pending application filed July 18, 1936, Serial No. 91,272.

The arms used in door closers of this type are long members usuallyextending to or past mid-width of the door, and consequently stick out aconsiderable distance into the room space whenthe. door is open. Thearm, under some circumstances, may be left in open or extended position:even though the doorbe closed, in which case the projecting armconstitutes a nuisance, if not a source of danger. r

, An object of the present invention has been to provide a stout, ruggedand efficient. door closer that will avoid the above-noted objection,and this object I accomplish by an improved construction wherein thespring impelled arm is substantially shortened and, instead of acting onthe front or face of the door, acts on the hinged edge thereof at apoint sufficiently in advance of the hinge axis of the door to opposethe opening movement of the latter, and, when the door is open, urge itto closed position.

Still other objects and attendant advantages of the invention will beapparent to persons skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein Ihave presented an illustrative embodiment of the invention, and inwhich- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the door closer, shown mounted ona vertical member of the door frame; the figure also showing a fragmentof the hinged edge portion of the door.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical axial section through the closer, taken on the line3-3 of Fig. 1.

1937, Serial no. 123,943 (Cl. 16 80) Fig. 4 is ahorizontal section onthe line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail of a locking collar forming apart of thedoor closer.

Referring to the drawing, ID designates a vertical side.- member of adoor frame, and H des1gnates a door of substantial thickness, asindicated in. Fig. 2, such as is commonly used on cold storage chambers,refrigerators, and the like. To the face of the vertical frame member inand the adjacent edge of the door II are secured hinge brackets l2 andI3 respectively, through which extends the usual hinge pintle' it. Twoor more of. such. hinges spaced vertically of the door are, of course,used.

On the front faces of attaching bases, or filler blocks l5 attached tothe frame member H] are attached upper and lower brackets l6 and I1respectively. The upper bracket I6 is formed with three spaced shelvesl8, l9 and 26, in which 2 is journaled a short vertical shaft designatedas an entirety by 2|. This shaft has a lower round portion 22 having abearing in the shelf 20, an intermediate reduced round portion 23 havinga bearing in the shelf l9, and an upper further reduced round portion 24having a bearing in the shelf 18. Between the bearing portions 22 and 23is apol-ygonal portion 25 on which is nonrotatably mounted the hub 26 ofa short forwardly extending arm 2'! that, as best shown in Fig. 2' lies.crosswise of the door I'I' opposite the hinged edge of the latter.Between the hub 26 and the bracket shelf i9 is interposed a lockingcollar 28 shown in isolated detail in Fig. 5. The purpose of thisvcollar is to lock the hub 26' in engagement'with the polygonal section25' of the shaft, but permit it to be raised out of engagement, bywithdrawal of the collar 28, when it is desired to shift the hub into anew position of engagement with the shaft, as, for instance, whentensioning the torsion spring, later referred to. The collar 28 isremovably attached to the bracket shelf I9 by means of an apertured lug29 on the collar engaged with a notch in the edge of the shelf l9, and afastening screw 30.

To the lower end of the shaft 2| is anchored the upper end of a torsionspring 3|, the lower end of which is anchored to the lower bracket l1.Surrounding and housing the spring 3| is a tube 32 attached to the upperand lower brackets as by screws 33.

Mounted on a squared portion 34 of the shaft 2| is a peripherallynotched disc 35, with which cooperates a manually operated detent pawl36.

Mounted on the front portion of the hinged angular position relativelyto the shaft by withof the door roller 38 with the arm 21 progreS-' disc35, the spring 3[ is placed under tension by swinging the arm 21 to theright, viewing Fig. 2, and then engaging the pawl .38 in a notch of'thedisc 35; the arm ZI may then be set in a new drawing the locking collar.28, raising the hub of the shaft off the polygonal portion25, turningit to a new position, reengaging it with the polygonal section 25, thisoperation being repeated as many times as necessary to properly tensionthe 7 spring, and then replacing the locking collar 25.

v A fully opened position of the door is'indicated by dotted linesinFig. 2, and the door may be locked in such an open position by manually'en-' gaging the pawl 36 with a notch of the detent disc or ratchet 35.Owing to the comparatively shortfleverage of the arm 21, acorrespondingly heavy'or stiff spring 3| is employed. However, itwill'be observed that the axis of the pintles Id of thendoor hinges isso related to the axisbf the shaft 2| on which the closer arm swings,that when the door is opened, the point of engagement sively movesoutwardly on the arm. The effective lever arm length of the closerarm,21 is thereby progressively increased so that theforce required toopen the door does'not increase in direct proportion'to the increase intension of the spring as it is wound up. This is a. desirablearrangement in that-it avoids excessive resistance to movement ofthedoor in opening direction, especially when the door nears its full openposition. V

As before stated, the described structure, by

' imparting a thrust on the hingededge of the door instead of on thefront or' face of the door, permits the use, of a' short arm, which neednot 'project beyond the plane of the face of the door,

thus providing a very compact and unobtrusive .door closer. Thestructural details of this device, except as to the, parts andarrangement thereof whereby a door-closing thrust isimparted to thehinged edge of the door, are substan-' tially identical withcorresponding parts in my aforesaid application Serial No. 91,272. 7 1claim: V V,

1; In combination with'a'door frame and a refrigerating room doorvertically hinged at one edge thereof on a vertical member of said frameso as to open outwardly, said door being hinged in such a manner that asubstantial portion of the thicknessof said door projects outwardlybeyond the hinge axis, a bracket mounted on said verticalframe member, avertical shaft journaled in said bracket, an armcarried by said shaftand extending laterally therefrom and crosswiseof said portion of thethickness of the hinged ,-.edge of the door which projects outwardlybeyond said hinge axis, means on the hinged edge of said door outwardlyof said hinge axis for engaging 'said'arm, said arm being of such shortlength as-not to project substantially beyond the plane" of the outsideof the door, and a spring tending to turn said shaft in a direction tocause said arm to bear on said roller to thereby effect closing of thedoor, the axis of said shaft being so located relative. to said hingeaxis that when the door is opened, the point of engagement betw'eenisaidarm and said meansmoves outwardly to progressively increase the leverarm length of said arm as the tension of said spring increases duringtheopening movement of the door.

2. In combination with a wall having a door- 7 way therein and arefrigerating room doorfor closing said doorway, said door being hingedat one vertical edge thereof. toan adjacent portion of said wall so asto facilitate'opening and closing of the door, and; said door being ofsubstantial thicknessand being hinged in such a manner that asubstantial portion of its thickness projects beyond the hinge'axiswhereby the plane of one face of the door is offset substantiallyrelative to the plane of said wall, and a door closer comprising anaxially vertical shaft mountedon I said walladjacent the hinged edge ,ofsaid door, an arm carried by'said shaft and extendinglaterallytherefrom'and crosswise of said portion of the thickness of thehinged edge of the door which projects beyond said hinge axis, said armbeing of such length'as not to project substantially be-' yond saidoffset face of the door, and spring means tending'to turn said arm in adirection to cause the same to apply pressure to said'p'roj'ecting dooredge portion to therebyclose the door, said door closer being, ineffect, housed" in the corner formed by the hinged edge of the door andthe wall, whereby the closer is substantially prevented fromcausinginjury to persons and also protected from injury by extraneousforces.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,102,522. December 11 1957.

WILLIAM J. KEENE.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2,second column, line 18, claim 1, for the word "roller" read. means; andthat the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction thereinthat the same may conform to the record of the case in. the PatentOffice.

Signed and sealed this 22nd day of February, A. D. 19 8. i

Henry Van Arsdale, (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

